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Friday, November 25, 2011

It's been a VERY busy November for me...but not busy enough to buy comics and review the heck out of them here at Behold the Geek! You're in luck, because two of the best books in the stands right now are in my pull list this week! What did I get myself into? Read on to find out!

In The Sixth Gun #17, Gord Cantrell is given a sadistic choice between his past and his future, while Becky learns about the Sword of Abraham's true intentions and goes on a one-woman rescue mission...to save Drake Sinclair!

This ish reads like a darn good season finale it's crazy. The book wraps up the running "Bound" storyline in a very satisfying way. Gord Cantrell, someone whom I thought was just some guy in the series, came out of this arc as a deep, interesting character and quite possibly a major player in the destruction of the Six. Becky also gains access to one of the Sixth Gun's hidden powers, and the fact that she uses it to find the one person she's worried about the most makes it all the more sweeter.

Brian Hurtt and Bill Crabtree are their usual best here. The splash page at the end in particular is such a powerful dramatic image, worthy of hanging in an art gallery! It's that kind of quality that makes this book stand out from any comic in the racks right now.

The previous issues of the "Bound" storyline were pretty slow-moving, but I should have known better than to doubt Bunn and co. The payoff was well-done, so much so that issue 18 can't get here fast enough. This gets a 4 out of 5.

And so we come to Wolverine and the X-Men #2, which is quite possibly the most insane comic book issue of the year. The school literally rising up to attack the students and teachers, the Hellfire Club brats throwing Frankenstein monsters armed with flamethrowers at them...and that's just the first few pages!

Series writer Jason Aaron opens up a floodgate of whoop-ass in this issue, as Wolverine and the X-Men get thrown out of the proverbial frying pan and into a vicious and brutal attack that just might end their teaching and heroic careers for good. This ish ramps up the action quota by 200% (good news for those who thought the first issue was sorta dull), which is worth the cover price alone!

It's not all mindless action though. Aaron sprinkles in a few short and sweet character moments throughout, including one that might make longtime readers go "Yowza", and some Crowning Moments of Awesome courtesy of Iceman and even the Hellfire Club that would make you involuntarily fist pump out of glee. Heck, throw in one of the X-Men's earliest foes wrecking stuff and we have yourselves a winner!

The issue gets a boost from Chris Bachalo's frenetic and stylized art, though there is such a thing as too frenetic. Most of the time you don't know what's going on (the wild layouts don't help) but I guess that's what Bachalo was aiming for. What we do get is amazing, though, and elevates Aaron's story in a way no lesser artist ever could.

I don't think I've ever read a series where your mind is blown by issue 2. Issue numerodos, people! Wolverine and the X-Men #2 is crazy good, despite its minimal flaws, and deserves a 4.5 out of 5.

Awesome week in comics, if I do say so myself! What did you think of this week's comics? Leave me a comment below and let's talk about it. Thanks for reading!

Be the grains of sand, and nothing but time will take you. The rocks must become it, the waves and wind must bear it and those who would hold it find it slips through their grasp. Always some trace in a faraway nook, if never the whole is seen again.